A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: SPORT
NOMINATED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
'An absorbing mix of historical sleuthing and travel writing'
The Telegraph
'[a] fascinating and often touching book... Wonderful'
The Times
In the autumn of 2020 Ned Boulting (ITV head cycling commentator and Tour de France obsessive) bought a length of Pathe news film from a London auction house. All he knew was it was film from the Tour de France, a long time ago. Once restored it became clear it was a short sequence of shots from stage 4 of the 1923 Tour de France. No longer than 2.5 minutes long, it featured half a dozen sequences, including a lone rider crossing a bridge.
Ned set about learning everything he could about the sequence - studying each frame, face and building - until he had squeezed the meaning from it. It sets him off in fascinating directions, encompassing travelogue, history, mystery story - to explain, to go deeper into this moment in time, captured on his little film.
Join him as he explores the history of cycling and France just five years after WWI.



![Niland, Conor SPORT Conor Niland: The Racket [2024] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/niland-conor-conor-niland-the-racket-2024-paperback-58820653515091_{width}x.jpg?v=1760353359)
![Sexton, Johnny PREORDER NONFICTION New Johnny Sexton: Obsessed: The Autobiography [2024] hardback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/sexton-johnny-johnny-sexton-obsessed-the-autobiography-2024-hardback-9781844885206-57825731739987_{width}x.jpg?v=1756997092)
![O'sullivan, Ronnie BARGAIN SPORT Ronnie O'Sullivan: Unbreakable [2023] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/o-sullivan-ronnie-ronnie-o-sullivan-unbreakable-2023-paperback-59726166557011_{width}x.jpg?v=1737900246)
![Jordan, Eddie & O'loughlin, Keith PREORDER NONFICTION New Eddie Jordan: Full Throttle [2025]](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/jordan-eddie-o-loughlin-keith-eddie-jordan-full-throttle-2025-9781529450019-1175692781_{width}x.jpg?v=1751638522)
![Maher, Padraic BARGAIN SPORT Padraic Maher: All on the Line: A memoir of hurling and commitment [2022] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/maher-padraic-padraic-maher-all-on-the-line-a-memoir-of-hurling-and-commitment-2022-paperback-57621333246291_{width}x.jpg?v=1737372814)